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Catching up . . . it’s a never-ending task, but a useful one. Let’s start with these two tugboats still under wraps at Isle aux Coudres Ocean shipyard. It’s not the best image, but with the wind, it was the best I could get. Anyone help with identification?
RF Grant is a 1934 tug up on a marine railway on Île d’Orléans, just downstream from Quebec City.
At the main Ocean Group yard, it’s Ocean’s Taiga and Tundra, and Clovis T.
Ocean Henry Bain is on the inland side.
Quebec is inseparable with their blue.
Cue the next day and farther upstream, it’s Aldo H.
Boatmen 6 and more at their dock.
Nearer the port, it’s Ocean Serge Genois and Ocean Bertrand Jeansonne.
Excuse the blurred shot, but it’s Ocean Pierre Julien and Ocean Jupiter. Particulars on all the Ocean boats can be found here.
As we climb higher up the Saint Lawrence, we get to the US DOT boats, Robinson Bay and the brand new
brand-spanking-new Seaway Trident.
For our last boat today, it’s Seaway Joan, a Lake Michigan 1952 boat, a great name and great little boat.
All photos taken in May 2023, WVD.
Regionally speaking, Andrew, along with
Roderick and Nancy, could be said to sail in maritime waters.
In the maritime province of Nova Scotia, though, I caught up with Atlantic Towing Limited tugboats Atlantic Oak,
Atlantic Cedar,
Atlantic Fir, and
Atlantic Elm. Given their extensive fleet, it seems I need to make my way back here. Other than returning in October, I’m not sure when that will happen, but now it’s a goal.
Seeing the Canso Strait, first hand and after being introduced to it by my friend Jack Ronalds, satisfied a curiosity.
Behold Spitzer Bedford, Spitzer Montreal, and Point Chebucto.
All photos, any errors, WVD.
Off Campobello Island, the Eastport pilot boat North Sea waited to retrieve the pilot as we headed for sea. It was April 26, 0540… This first pilot had been a walk-on before we left Eastport.
April 27 at 0530, Portland pilot boat Spring Point came to meet us as we approached.
At 0538, the pilot stepped aboard.
At 1753, the same boat followed us out to retrieve the pilot as we headed into the Gulf of Maine.
On April 29 at 0551 Halifax pilot boat Captain E. T. Rogers met us outside the harbor.
Transfer was accomplished safely.
Port of registry listed on this pilot boat is Saint John.
At 1842, the same pilot boat followed us to retrieve the pilot when we were safely out to sea.
The next pilot was April 30 at 1340 off Canso NS, landed from Strait Falcon.
Registry here is given as Halifax.
This pilot would get us safely through the Canso lock.
May 1 at 0529 I almost missed the pilot off Charlottetown, since they appeared not to be on AIS.
Pilot boat JRG was at the dock when we arrived.
Serious winds delayed our departure from Charlottetown, and when we did depart, a walk-on pilot took us as far up as
just past the Confederation Bridge, when pilot boat Bridge Lady
retrieved that pilot. Waterway there is the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait.
I missed the next pilot pickup on May 4 at 0’darkest off Les Escoumins, but caught the moment half a day later where pilots exchanged places just before Quebec City.
The fresh pilot stepped aboard on May 4 at 1221, and
moments later the overnight pilot stepped off and
Ocean Guide sped him ashore.
Just downstream of Montreal on May 5 at 0754, I caught the next exchange . . . Ocean Maisoneuve II did the delivery and pick up.
Note the muddy water, ie, strong currents, and absence of green on the trees.
Ocean Maisonneuve II has an unusual orange fender built into its hull.
Exchange complete, she speeds off. Notice Montreal upper right in the distance.
Several other exchanges happened in the SLSW locks, but as we approached Lake Ontario at Cape Vincent, we exchanged pilots one last time before Toronto . . .
with the quite new Seaway V doing the honors.
All photos, any errors, WVD, who loses sleep to get photos like these.
Maybe someone can help me with details: is the series made up of Laurentian pilots, District 1 US river/lakes pilots, and then port-specific docking pilots? Any others?
Algoma Mariner stops briefly before proceeding upbound.
CSL Tadoussac slides by.
St Marys Cement II gets pushed through
by Sea Eagle II.
Algoberta moves toward lock W8.
Manistee I’ll watch get dismantled over the course of the summer.
Sunrise over Lake Erie from about an hour NE of Cleveland.
Sam Laud discharges cargo at lakefront.
ST-911 Enduring Freedom heads out to a jetty job.
UAL Fortitude transfers cargo near the container portion of the Cleveland port.
All photos, any errors, WVD
Another quick one . . . starting with Toronto in the rear view.
Gaia Desgagnes passes as we wait outside the entrance the the Welland.
Once Spartan departs lock 1,
we head in.
Burch Nash waits outside Heddle Shipyard on the Canal.
Tim S Dool takes the inside wall to line up on lock 3.
At Port Colborne, CSL Tadoussac heads toward lock 8.
All photos, any errors, WVD, who has more photos but no more time.
Another quick post. Names are here: Theodore alias Pierre Marcotte.
Oceanex Connaigra.
Newbuild Seaway Trident under a setting moon.
Poetry in the wires.
Mia Desgagnes
Isabelle G
Seaway Joan going to a job
Seaway Pilot V
Fans of Wolfe Island.
Gliding past Toronto Islands and into
Toronto at daybreak, where Amy Lynn D is docked.
All photos and any errors, WVD.
This post encompasses two legs, but WiFi has not been cooperative.
Minimal comment: this is the eight-mile Confederation Bridge. Toll to cross by car: $CD 50.
Bridge Lady is pilot boat to retrieve the pilot who departed with us at Charlottetown.
After a rough passage north along the Gaspé coastline, we enter the lower estuary, where a cold welcome awaited.
Near Les Éboulements aka “the landslides,” this tug Felicia still adorns the shore.
From the ferry dock near there, Svanoy shuttled over to Isle aux Coudres.
As we approached the end of that first leg at QC, Ocean Guide came by to exchange pilots.
Kitikmeot W, Nordic Orion, and Spruceglen were in port.
as were the two powerhouses, Ocean Taiga and Ocean Tundra.
Departing I had my first opportunity to see Vincent Massey. Four years ago she was undergoing transformation here.
Torm Timothy headed for sea.
A pilot exchange happened just downstream from Montreal,
where Uhl Fast was in port.
All photos, any errors, WVD.
Departing Halifax, we passed CMA CGM Osiris, no doubt making the sixth boro its next stop.
Heading NE from Halifax, we had fabulous weather following the NS coastline and seeing fish boats like this one, Chief Stephen J. Gleade Sr., if I’ve read that right.
Turning in at the point in Canso, we meet Strait Falcon.
CCGC Kopit Hopson was anchored off the shore. Check out this information about this vessel’s name.
Seaways Colorado is moored at Point Tupper,
where Svitzer Bedford, Montreal, and Chebucto stand by.
Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin loads where Alice used to.
It was fantastic to see my friend Jack Ronalds, photographer who casts a long shadow, doing what he does, photographing passing vessels. See Jack’s previous contributions to this blog here.
Strait Raven tows a work barge away from the causeway.
Before sunrise, pilot boat JRG delivered a pilot.
Later, when we tied up, she was at the dock, accompanied by
Mr. Ben, a Coastal Stevedoring vessel.
All photos, any errors, WVD, who’s Great Lakes bound.
Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north, where half my relatives come from.
I barely saw the sixth boro this June, so I had to catch up a bit, adding another day to the month to do so. Over by the Bayonne Centerline yard, I saw three previously Bouchard boats all wearing or about the wear the lion. L to r, it’s now Ellen S. Bouchard, Adeline Marie, and William F. Fallon Jr, previously named
Ellen S. Bouchard, Denise A. Bouchard, and J. George Betz
I also noticed a flag flying at what appeared to be half mast.
I wonder if that flag marked the passing of Capt. Brian A. McAllister, long an iconic figure in the all the boros of NYC. This photo below was taken at the christening of Ava M. McAllister in midJuly 2019.
All photos, WVD.
We’ll return to the 1921 ILI canal motor ships part D in a later post, but for now, the 1935 Kermic was one of seven diesel motor ships designed to maximize the size of the Champlain/Chambly International Waterway, with size restriction dictated not by the Barge Canal locks, but even smaller, the Chambly locks. As such, these seven vessels all had the dimensions of 106′ x 22′. She was considered a coaster, or un caboteur. More caboteurs along with their particulars, including this as IV No. 14, can be found here.
Their principal cargo was rolls of newsprint transported between the pulp mills in Quebec and the presses in New York City. With a crew of four, many from the Lotbinière area on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence upstream of Quebec City, they had an average transit time of 2.5 days with 225 tons of cargo, usually composed of 300 rolls of newsprint at 1500 pounds each. Much more info on these newsprint carriers can be found here, an article that was informed in part by a tugster post from 2010 here. As of November 2021, this vessel was still on the hard in Lotbinière after an ill-fated attempt to turn her into a restaurant.
For more on the pulp and paper trade between Canada and the US, here’s a great little reference. The fact that the photo on the cover below is Chicago Tribune and others in the book have names like New York News and Washington Times says it all.
While we’re on Canadian commercial vessels in the New York canals, the photo below didn’t make sense until I started thinking about Quebec: M. Robidoux is clearly French, and with a search I found she was earlier named Katchiwano, built in Peterborough ON in 1932, a wooden tug with dimensions of 50′ x 13. A Peterborough-build means she accessed the NY canals via the Trent-Severn Waterway.
She was M. Robidoux from 1951 to 1963, which nicely dates this photo. I’m not sure of the location, but this too could be on the Champlain Canal. Her last registry was in Cap Chat QC on the Saint Lawrence. Better lighting on this photo would be desirable. The ship’s bell configuration is unique.
This might be a good place to throw in this mystery vessel, for which I have no clues.
All photos used with permission from the Canal Society of New York.
Thanks to Bob Mattsson for lightening the photo of M. Robidoux.
tugster: a waterblog 
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